Read through our guide to the contenders for each position and scroll through the galleries for full details of the impact each of our shortlisted player made for the Lions.

Take a look at Simon Thomas' greatest ever Test XV and cast your vote at the bottom of the article

FULL-BACK

There aren’t all that many Scotsmen in our short-list of Lions greats, but full-back is one category where they are very well represented.

There’s Ken Scotland, who redefined the attacking role of the modern-day 15.

There’s Andy Irvine, who was the starting full-back in 1977 and 1980 after playing on the wing in two Tests in South Africa in 1974.

And there’s Gavin Hastings, a towering figure in the triumph Down Under in 1989 and a popular captain in 1993. But it’s the one non-Scot in our quartet - a certain JPR Williams - who has to be the favourite for the all-time Test team.

Wales and England dominate this category, apart from one lone Irishman, Tony O’Reilly. But what a great man he was - one of the ultimate tourists in spirit and deed. As for the Welsh trio, you are talking about some of the greatest finishers the game has ever seen in Gerald, JJ and Ieuan, while there was a temptation to find a space for another in Shane Williams, but his Lions chances were sadly limited.

In terms of the English contingent, my personal favourite is an adopted Welshmen in dashing blonde David Duckham, nicknamed Dai in these parts for his flair and enterprise.

Kiwis don’t throw compliments around casually, so when you consider they dubbed Dr Jack Matthews the “Iron Man” after the Lions’ 1950 tour of New Zealand, it speaks volumes.

Another medically-minded Cardiff centre was to make a similar impression in South Africa 59 years later, when Jamie Roberts was named Man of the Series. And in between some genuine midfield maestros have graced the Lions jersey.

Mike Gibson’s record is truly astonishing, with the Irish imp having gone on five tours, while Jeremy Guscott played a key part in two series victories.

And who can forget Scott Gibbs’ impact in South Africa in 1997? Certainly not Os Du Randt!

People may question what on earth Rob Andrew is doing alongside these three Welsh legends.

After all, he was a pretty limited outside-half who hardly set the pulses racing.

But we are talking Lions here and his record for them can’t be ignored. The turnaround in the 1989 Test series against the Wallabies coincided with Andrew coming into the team, while he was Mr Efficient again in New Zealand four years later.

However, when you are talking all-time greats, you are talking Cliff, Barry and Phil. Magical Morgan, jinking John and breathtaking Bennett.

Only Willie-John McBride has played more Lions Tests than Dickie Jeeps, who was a magnificent competitor and a real hard-case at scrum-half. Another Northampton No 9 to go on three tours was Matt Dawson, who emerged as the unlikely try-scoring hero of the first Test victory over the Springboks in 1997.

Robert Jones spent much of his career in a poor Welsh team behind a beaten pack, but for the Lions he was able to show his true ability and even a spiky edge which we hadn’t seen before, as Nick Farr-Jones will testify.

Had it not been for injuries, which denied them at their peak, Terry Holmes and Rob Howley would surely be on this list.

There is one other Welshman on here. Don’t know if you’ve heard of him. Some bloke called Edwards.

I had planned to split these eight into loose-heads and tight-heads, but I had to have a re-think when I considered the case of Fran Cotton. Having been the Test tight-head on the undefeated tour of South Africa in 1974, he then switched to the loose in New Zealand three years later. Cotton was also the subject of one of the most memorable Lions pictures of all time – that marvellous mud-spattered image from 1977.

His propping partner against the Springboks was Ian “Mighty Mouse” McLauchlin, a true Lions legend who had also been ever-present at No 1 versus the All Blacks in 1971.

And in ‘77, Cotton moved across to make way for Wales tight-head Graham Price, who was to start every Test on three consecutive tours - a truly remarkable record.

In more recent times, Tom Smith and Gethin Jenkins have monopolised the loose-head berth, while tight-head Dai Young’s record of going on three tours in three different decades is a notable one.

Cutting my short-list down to just four names proved a devilishly difficult task.

That’s illustrated by the absence of two truly great English hookers in Peter Wheeler and Brian Moore, who made 13 Test appearances between them.

But you can’t fit in everyone and the four I’ve gone for aren’t too shabby! Three-time tourist Bryn Meredith was a hard man even by the standards of the 1950s when the front row was no place for the faint-hearted, but he was also had a mobility ahead of his time.

John Pullin may be best remembered as the lone Englishman involved in THAT Gareth Edwards Baa-Baas try, but he was arguably the world’s best hooker in the early 1970s, while Windsor and Wood were too wonderfully larger-than-life characters.

You are certainly not short of leaders in this section, with four Lions captains in McBride, Beaumont, Johnson and O’Connell.

RH Williams may not have been skipper, but the Llanelli lock was the undoubted leader of the Lions pack in the 1950s when he was ever-present in all 10 Tests, a distinction he shares with just Tony O’Reilly.

Fast forward to the 1970s and it was the era of the “Broon of Troon”, who went on all three tours in that decade and contributed magnificently to the epic triumphs of ‘71 and ‘74.

World Cup-winning England captain Martin Johnson also went on a trio of trips, two as skipper and was a colossal presence on and off the pitch.

But no-one has played more matches or Tests than the pipe-smoking Willie John McBride, arguably the greatest ever Lion.

Another tough category, with Ireland’s John O’Driscoll, Scotland’s Finlay Calder, England’s Roger Uttley and Ben Clarke and our own Terry Cobner all unlucky to miss out. As a result, the eight who do make it are pure quality. Mike Teague’s tale always merits re-telling, with the teak hard Gloucester blind-side named Man of the Series against Australia in 1989 despite playing the final two Tests with a partially dislocated shoulder.

Irish openside Fergus Slattery took the tour of South Africa by storm in similar fashion in 1974, when only JJ Williams was ahead of him in the sprint times.

And had not players’ player Richard Hill been taken out by Nathan Grey midway through the 2001 Test trilogy Down Under he would surely have had another series triumph to add to that from 1997.

During the dark days of the 1960s, Alun Pask and Jim Telfer stood out in the Lions back row.

Welsh skipper Pask was a great athlete and a fine all-round ball player, while Telfer was hard and skilful, who packed down on the blind-side in ‘66 before moving to No 8 two years later and going on to achieve even greater recognition as a coach, most famously in South Africa in 1997.

Davies and Richards were both Test ever presents on two tours, while Merv the Swerve - a man of unflinching courage - would have captained the 1977 Lions had not serious illness intervened.